Exciting Updates about Scholarships and Summer Programs for Our Students!

All three Somerville High School (SHS) Enroot students who applied for the SHS SPARK Summer Scholarship 2020 were selected to receive scholarship funding towards a summer program of their choice. Two students will attend the Harvard Pre-Medical one-week summer intensive program. And our third student will attend the one-week Harvard Business Academy summer intensive program.

The SPARK Scholarship offers students the opportunity to experience a broad range of academic and career possibilities. SPARK helps students realize that their place in the world is determined by their efforts and success, and not by their backgrounds. 

We are so thrilled to share that the teachers, college counselors, and department heads on the SPARK selection committee were really impressed by what our students have done with Enroot. Student applications where they wrote in detail about seminars and the work that they do with their mentors and tutors especially stood out. The committee also counted in a student's favor that he or she had sought extra help from Enroot staff. One student included in his application the resume he worked on in seminar with his mentor although this was not asked in the application submission, and this really impressed and stood out to the committee. 

Sophia, our Americorps Ambassador of Mentoring through Mass Mentoring Partnership, works tirelessly to support students as much as she can. She encouraged students to apply for the SPARK Scholarship and sent the application to mentors to also encourage students to apply and offer help. Sophia also offered extra 1-1 help to students during school and over February vacation week and supported students.

In addition to the SPARK Scholarship, four Enroot students applied to the Biogen Community Lab Summer Program and were accepted! 

We are so excited for our students and proud that they are pursuing these amazing opportunities. 

Enroot Students Visit the Biogen Community Lab!

Students from our Cambridge cohort visited the Biogen community lab where they conducted science experiments, in addition to learning about diversity and leadership. Special thanks to our hosts Biogen for opportunities like these that allow students that don't typically have this degree of access to engage with and learn about STEM! #BiogenSTAR

Girls to Engineering Day Conference Fight Climate Change: “Engineering a Resilient Future”

By: Begimai, Enroot 9th grade student

When during Enroot seminar Mrs. Sandra asked ‘who wants to go to a conference on “Girls to Engineering Day” I raised my hand even when I did not know what’s engineering really means. I just raised my hand because I knew it’s a chance to discover something new for myself. I knew that engineers build and count. This was the only information I knew about engineering. After this trip I know more than I knew before. I learned that engineers are problem solvers. When they work on something, they predict effects. This is an important feature of an engineer. Also I’m glad that members of this event answered the main and important question: what makes an engineer? Curiosity, creativity, teamwork, opportunities, helping others. I understand that I do not have all these features, but I’ll work on it because I need these features even if I’m not an engineer. I need them as a person who wants to improve herself. I think all of us need these features.

Going to this conference was interesting. I do not regret that I participated in this event. We practiced being an engineer. We built a school on a map. We selected relevant materials and thought about price and benefit. That moment I understood how hard is being an engineer because you must to think about many things. If you change one thing, you change other thing as well or sometimes everything. My favorite activity was making a beach. We had to protect a house from big weaves. We thought how to make the house safer. We had some options and we chose the best one. At the end we decorated the house to make it funnier. But I was sad when we destructed the beach and the house. I was sad no long because I won a prize! The prize was a book. In my opinion I won the best thing because a book is the most helpful thing in my life. It gives me knowledge and helps me. I was glad that I went there. I learnt a lot of new things.

Thank You Mrs. Sandra and Girls to Engineering!